This week we have a question from Dr. Walker in Florida. It seems that Dr. Walker has been approached every week by “SEO experts” who guarantee him a first place listing in Google, and he wanted to know if this was legitimate and good way to build his site’s authority on the web.

This is a great question. Search engine ranking and boosting your site’s presence on the web can be confusing to someone who hasn’t been working in the field for years.

There are two distinct approaches to boosting your website’s search ranking – the organic approach and the paid approach. They each have their advantages and disadvantages, but it’s important to understand how they work and the benefits to your practice.

First, let’s talk about the paid approach. This is what you’ll see often with “Chiropractic SEO” packages that guarantee you #1 placement in Google.

This approach is easy, because the marketing company is simply paying Google for ads for your practice. Then, when somebody types in the keywords they’ve targeted, like, “Chicago chiropractor,” your ad pops up right to the top.

The advantage this method has is that you can rank right away for whatever search term you want, and, as long as you’re paying for the ads, your site will continue to appear. These types of ads can be great for a new site while you’re waiting for your long-term search strategy to start working.

But paid search results are not a long-term solution, unless you want to spend $1000 a month in advertising for the rest of your life.

I prefer a long-term approach to marketing, because by doing the work to build your search ranking organically, you reap the benefits now and for years to come, without having to pay just to keep your site online.

Organic search ranking comes from some simple concepts: creating original content for your site (which includes articles, blog posts, and social media engagement), getting people to link to your site, and increasing the number of followers and people who like your Facebook page.

All of this takes work and time, of course, but once you have those things in place, they don’t go away! Unique content that you have on your site remains yours and stays in the search results forever, and your social media relationships are yours, too. These create a stable base of quality search results and social relationships that will get you new patients for years to come…without having to pay someone to run ads for you.

Now, there are a lot of companies that are trying to sell you chiropractic marketing services, and most likely you’ve been approached by some of them. They can be pretty aggressive with their sales tactics. If you’re looking at hiring someone to work on your chiropractic marketing, make sure that you ask them a few questions:

First, are you just running Adwords for my practice?

Or are you creating original content for my site through articles, blogging, and social media? Are you helping me build a long-term, active conversation with my patients?

Our VIP Chiropractic Marketing Service is better, because we actually take the long-term approach to boosting your search ranking and social media presence, rather than simply running ads. We write original material for your site and blog, and supply you with regular news updates for your social media presence.

If you have questions about chiropractic SEO or our Chiropractic Marketing Service, email me below or give us a call. We’ll be happy to explain how we can help you get new patients.